Shopping for a Home Charger

JamieGeek

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DaveRuns

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Got a quote for installing the 240v outlet. $900. I was hoping for closer to $500 but was kinda figuring it would be more. My panel is tight. This will fill it up, and they have to rearrange a few breakers to get there. Adds extra.

For another $350 they could add a whole home surge protector, which I wanted anyway. I should probably have gotten multiple quotes but these guys are local and well rated (and already here), so I just bit the bullet and let them do it. Working on it now.
Thatā€™s a really good price. How far from the breaker will the juice be located?
 
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dbsb3233

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Thatā€™s a really good price. How far from the breaker will the juice be located?
It's about a 35' run through the crawl space. So ~50 foot of 6/3 wire total, the 50A breaker, outlet, conduit+box, and labor (2 guys took 4 hours) for $900. ($1260 including the whole-home surge protector added to the panel.)
 

SAVAGE

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Does anyone have any experience with the Juicebox 40? Iā€™m thinking about either buying the Ford charger or the Juicebox. Iā€™m really wanting a "smart" charger that can be programmed to only charge during during certain hours of the night and also provide me with reports. The ā€˜clean energyā€™ add-on interests me too but not sure if itā€™s only a gimmick.

https://evcharging.enelx.com/store/residential/juicebox-40?i_variant_characteristic_id=154
 


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Does anyone have any experience with the Juicebox 40? Iā€™m thinking about either buying the Ford charger or the Juicebox. Iā€™m really wanting a "smart" charger that can be programmed to only charge during during certain hours of the night and also provide me with reports. The ā€˜clean energyā€™ add-on interests me too but not sure if itā€™s only a gimmick.

https://evcharging.enelx.com/store/residential/juicebox-40?i_variant_characteristic_id=1
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Were you aware the car can schedule charging? The one I bought the Grizzl-E says you will be able to add something later for smart charging. Someone on this thread previous page got that charger.
 
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bshaw

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I have an unused 30A double-breaker in my basement panel left over from when we converted the dryer from electric to gas.
The dryer outlet is not in the direction of where the car charger will connect, so will have to pull all new wire direct from the panel. From reading these forums, seems like #6-gauge wire for maximum future upgradeability.

Since I'm pulling new wire anyways, shouldn't I be able to swap the 30A double into a 50A double-breaker? Or is there some other capacity calculation that my panel would have to accommodate?

Planning to have an electrician put a 14-50 outlet on this circuit and then decide later what charger to get. Probably not the Ford branded one, since if we ever sell our house, the new owner might have a different EV.
 
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I have an unused 30A double-breaker in my basement panel left over from when we converted the dryer from electric to gas.
The dryer outlet is not in the direction of where the car charger will connect, so will have to pull all new wire direct from the panel. From reading these forums, seems like #6-gauge wire for maximum future upgradeability.

Since I'm pulling new wire anyways, shouldn't I be able to swap the 30A double into a 50A double-breaker? Or is there some other capacity calculation that my panel would have to accommodate?

Planning to have an electrician put a 14-50 outlet on this circuit and then decide later what charger to get. Probably not the Ford branded one, since if we ever sell our house, the new owner might have a different EV.
Most likely, that should all be fine. Unless your panel is already pushed to the limit of your service (commonly 200A in newer residential homes), replacing a 30A breaker with a 50A (with 6 gauge wiring) should be fine.

As you can read above, the Grizzl-E that many of us bought is a good choice for a 50A circuit. It can charge up to 40A, is well-constructed, and is only $429. It should charge 26 miles per hour on the Mach-e.
 

methorian

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I have an unused 30A double-breaker in my basement panel left over from when we converted the dryer from electric to gas.
The dryer outlet is not in the direction of where the car charger will connect, so will have to pull all new wire direct from the panel. From reading these forums, seems like #6-gauge wire for maximum future upgradeability.

Since I'm pulling new wire anyways, shouldn't I be able to swap the 30A double into a 50A double-breaker? Or is there some other capacity calculation that my panel would have to accommodate?

Planning to have an electrician put a 14-50 outlet on this circuit and then decide later what charger to get. Probably not the Ford branded one, since if we ever sell our house, the new owner might have a different EV.
Sounds good - Like the other poster said, the only thing you might want to look at it total panel load, but so long as it's a 200A service, you're probably pretty good there.

Only thing I wanted to note is that 50A circuit isn't really complete "maximum future upgradeability". IE - The Ford Connected Charge station can go up to 48A, requiring a 60A circuit. That would require 4AWG copper wire. If you really wanted that maximum upgrade-ability, you'd want to run 4AWG wire. In later years if you wanted to get a 48A EVSE, you would just need to replace the 50A breaker with a 60A, and hardwire the EVSE (removing the 50A receptacle in the process) to the 4AWG wiring.
 

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Sounds good - Like the other poster said, the only thing you might want to look at it total panel load, but so long as it's a 200A service, you're probably pretty good there.

Only thing I wanted to note is that 50A circuit isn't really complete "maximum future upgradeability". IE - The Ford Connected Charge station can go up to 48A, requiring a 60A circuit. That would require 4AWG copper wire. If you really wanted that maximum upgrade-ability, you'd want to run 4AWG wire. In later years if you wanted to get a 48A EVSE, you would just need to replace the 50A breaker with a 60A, and hardwire the EVSE (removing the 50A receptacle in the process) to the 4AWG wiring.
Thanks for the replies. My panel is 200A service. We do have AC and 1-circuit of 240V heat (basement only), but it sounds like I should be fine with my 50A circuit plan.

Should maybe have said "flexibility" instead of "upgradeability". It sounds like any EVSE that can use a 60A circuit will require to be hardwired, and I like the idea of having a 14-50 NEMA outlet and then I can change what I connect without an electrician.

Leaning towards the Grizzl-E based on reading what others have posted here. It looks solid, and I'll be mounting it outside (we get a lot of snow in the winter). The remote connectivity capabilities from other EVSE products sound like one more thing that can go wrong. I don't know about you guys, but I'm expecting the MME to be *buggy* when those first deliveries are made. Hopefully things are worked out quickly with the OTA updates, but I'm keeping my initial expectations low.

Having the EVSE not be one of the variables is my thought process here.
 

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Interesting. Not sure we'd seen the part number before. So a quick Bing search shows a few sites already listing it, though without too much detail, or conflicting info (e.g. Made in Germany, Made in USA).

$799 (can't add to cart or see shipping yet)
https://www.fordracingparts.com/part/ML9Z-10C823-A

$881.99 + $0 shipping
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/fms-ml9z10c823a

$897.18 + $50.41 shipping (you save $178.82 :rolleyes:)
https://www.levittownfordparts.com/sku/ml9z-10c823-a.html

So the Summit Racing option is actually the best value, because that kit specifically includes a Ford and a Mustang. You could always resell them if you don't need the extra vehicles.

Seriously, though -- what I'd still like to see:

- part number and cost for the mobile charger that's included with the car
- additional pigtail options for the included mobile charger (e.g. NEMA 14-30)
https://www.ford.com/buy-site-wide-content/overlays/mach-e-overlays/ford-connected-charge-station/
 

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